so my wife and i went to buy a blender yesterday, and we are torn between the following two options....one of us feels strongly about one, the other feels strongly about the other....i told her i would let the discussion forum help decide, so i wont say much beyond that to sway anyone's vote

we mostly want it for frozen smoothies - with our current one, the food constantly gets jammed up, so you have to stop the blender, give it a stir or shake, and then try again...this is mostly due to poor design with the funnel shaped carafe, which doesnt allow the food to flow to the bottom - of the two new choices, one is more of a square, and one is a taller, thinner cylinder....ill also make the occasional soup, or salad dressing, or whatever else....we've had a few cheaper ($50 range) blenders, and i'd like this one to perform better and last longer....

first, here are the two blenders - one kitchenaid, one waring....different sizes, different shapes, different materials.....let me know which one you would pick irregardless of price (performance alone)...would be great if someone actually owned one of these and could comment

now the prices....the kitchenaid is $99 on sale, normally $150 (though it seems that $99 is the normal price at most stores).....as for the waring, bloomingdales is having some sort of "special" pre-sale where they sell a limited quanity of the blender for $30, when the price tag on it says $190 (not sure how much it would actually sell for - though you can see amazon sells it for $97)

so, what is your vote when you take the price into consideration? we already bought both, and will return one

one last thing - we need to buy this from bloomingdales, and these are the only two options i would consider from there....so i realize that there may be better blenders out there for the price, but we really need to stick with these two for now (unless someone has a vitamix/blendtec they are willing to part with for $100)

thanks andy - which negatives are you referring to? i thought that, overall, the reviews for both were relatively positive...i also tend to take negative reviews with a grain of salt, since i think people are much more likely to write a review when they want to complain and vent, while satisfied customers dont take the time to do so

one thing that did worry me was the leaking base of the kitchenaid....but it seems like that the company redesigned the carafe to fix that problem

at this point we are still limited to those two options, so id love to hear what some others think, also

My concerns were the multiple comments about the leaking KA and the fact that the Waring carafe cannot be put into the dishwasher.

If you know the leaking carafe has been fixed and the Waring carafe can now go into the DW it's probably a toss up.

As far as negative reviews in general, I agree some buyers look for things to complain about but there were three different reviews about the leaks and the process cited for cleaning the Waring sounded pretty specific, as if they were paraphrased from the manual. You can easily check that in the store by reading the manual or downloading it online and reading the cleaning instructions.

You could also check other sites for blender reviews.

__________________
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -Carl Sagan

My concerns were the multiple comments about the leaking KA and the fact that the Waring carafe cannot be put into the dishwasher.

If you know the leaking carafe has been fixed and the Waring carafe can now go into the DW it's probably a toss up.

As far as negative reviews in general, I agree some buyers look for things to complain about but there were three different reviews about the leaks and the process cited for cleaning the Waring sounded pretty specific, as if they were paraphrased from the manual. You can easily check that in the store by reading the manual or downloading it online and reading the cleaning instructions.

You could also check other sites for blender reviews.

so it does seem like some people had leaking/breaking issues, but also many people seem to love both.....fortunately, both do have warranties (admittedly short ones, though most people mentioned that the companies took care of issues relatively easily)

but in regards to blenders in general, i feel that a larger (56oz), wider, non-funneled carafe (the KA) would be superior to a smaller (40oz), more narrow carafe that could create jamming/bubble issues (waring).....the size different really is huge when you see these things in person, and i think the extra room will create a much better blend....i also like the poly carafe in the KA, vs the glass in the waring....even if it isnt the best blender in the world, it seems to have the characteristics of what i would look for in a good blender....again, we are mostly likely stuck choosing between those two....and ive also noticed that almost all blenders sub $300 have several complaints, so nothing is perfect

but, out of curiosity, what blender for $100 and under would you recommend that is better than these two?

I have a Braun I paid under $50 for a few years ago. It's fine for me as I'm not a frequent blender user. We use it for frozen drinks in the summer and I use it occasionally for recipes. We don't do daily smoothies.

If I was a daily blender user, I'd go to the library and read Consumer Reports on the subject. They will tell you which are best for smoothies and which are better for other uses. They will also recommend the best and the best at a lower price.

__________________
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -Carl Sagan

would like an immersion blender, but is def not a replacement for a regular blender (especially for smoothies)

vitamix def out of the question...would like one, but cant justify the expense

though after seeing this video, i feel much better about my KA (far left)...i know that in reality its not better than the blendtec or vita-mix, but seems like its not a bad little blender (as long as it doesnt leak)

...i know that in reality its not better than the blendtec or vita-mix, but seems like its not a bad little blender (as long as it doesnt leak)...

I count the blendtec's need for a special pitcher and the Vita-Mix's need for a plunger as big negatives. That makes the KA a better choice to me. That also makes it a better blender than the two big name ones. As you said, as long as it doesn't leak, the KA is the way to go.

Bottom line is you won't know for sure until you get it home.

__________________

__________________
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -Carl Sagan